Carers suffering mental distress: report

Seven out of ten people who care for someone with depression suffer high levels of mental distress, a report has found.

The report, from the Hunter Institute of Mental Health, found that many carers were suffering the "severe impact" of looking after a loved one with depression.

"More than 70 per cent of people who live with or care for someone with depression ... record high levels of psychological distress," the director of the NSW Newcastle-based institute, Jaelea Skehan, said in a statement on Tuesday.

She said the report showed carers needed "immediate help".

Ms Skehan said preventative programs were a key of a cost-effective approach to mental health.

"It is always better to prevent onset of mental illness, rather than having to pay more in the future to treat it," she said.

Prevention was especially important as the cost of delivering mental health services continued to rise, Ms Skehan said.

The estimated national health expenditure on mental illness was at least $13.8 billion, she said.

"It's really important that the value of carers is understood and supported by governments well into the future," Ms Skehan added.

The full report is to be launched at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne on Tuesday.